Did I mention the strong west wind that was pushing the rain clouds across the mountains towards us? Only once I’d left the shelter of the trees to continue upwards did I realise how strong it was, with sustained gusts forcing the long grasses and wildflowers to bend to its will.

The grassy edges of the lower summit are full of wildflowers. On the exposed side there is mostly Knapweed, with touches of Ragwort and a white umbellifer I think is Upright Hedge Parsley. There was more Red Bartsia, just one plant as far as I could see, but a better one to see properly than the one lower down. On the other side, sheltered by a belt of Blackthorn, the red berries of Lords and Ladies, Cuckoo Pint if you prefer or plain old Wild Arum.

Red Bartsia

Berries of Lords & Ladies

I didn’t take this exposed path to the summit today, but ‘turned left’ to continue into the sheltered hollow where I thought there may be more insect activity.

A wasp clung on to a lone Hogweed flowerhead swaying in the wind amidst a sea of waving long grass.

There was a sizeable patch of the umbellifer that may be Upright Hedge Parsley amongst dry long grass, but as I photographed the flower it was visited only by a single, quite faded Sun Flyhoverfly.

Upright Hedge Parsley

Sun fly-Helophilus pendulus (f)

There were a few Meadow Brown butterflies doing what they do – suddenly flying up in front of you from where they had been basking on the warm earth of the track and heading into the safety of the grass. There were a couple of Gatekeepers too, sheltering from the wind to bask low in the brambles. The one I photographed had a wing-tip missing; maybe a narrow escape from a predator, but such damage can be one of the hazards of territorial scraps and of frequenting thorny brambles.

Meadow Brown

Gatekeeper amongst brambles

And just for some colour, Rosebay willowherb, which I always think is quite out of context here, even if it does look pretty. Today at least it was giving nectar to a few little bumblebees.

From the summit the views are always spectacular and today you could clearly see the low clouds skimming the tops of the higher Carneddau mountains to the west and heading our way.

The effect on the seascape was strangely beautiful too. Looking to what is roughly the south-east across Colwyn Bay, the distant hills were obscured by a mist hazeand although the sea appears to be flat calm; the wind was rippling back the surface, giving it texture, while the moving clouds created dynamic areas of light and shade. Mesmerising.

Back to earth I headed across the hilltop to make my way back down the other side. Mushrooms continue to pop up from the short turf and are still being nibbled. I’ve done a bit of research and from their shape I think they are a species of Boletus. This one was encircled by another of my favourite wildflowers of late summer, the lovely and semi-parasitic Eyebright. There are two variations here – plants with flowers blotched wih purple and others the more usual white with yellow centres.

Further down the slope where Knapweed grows in the longer grass, there were a few nectaring insects. A Common Carder bumblebee, a male Red-tailed Bumblebee and a few hoverflies. There was also a badly-damaged Burnet moth that had somehow managed to haul itself up a flower stem to feed, despite having lost at least half of all of its wings.

Red-tailed bumblebee (male)

Syrphus sp hoverfly

Syrphus sp hoverfly

Common Carder bumblebee

Burnet moth badly damaged

As I reached the bottom of the hill I stopped by a patch of Hogweed growing right on the edge of the woodland. The clouds finally cleared the way for some sun to shine through, which encouraged out a little flush of hoverflies. There was a lovely fresh female Myathropa florea – mentioned in a previous post as having the memorable and distinguishing ‘batman logo’ marking on its thorax. It was extremely mobile, but clearly hungry and from a distance I managed to get some images showing it from several angles.

Myathropa florea face-on view

Myathropa florea from the side

Then a treat to end the walk – a petite and dainty hoverfly with black and white markings, another new-to-me species.

This insect was tiny, highly mobile and flying frequently between adjacent flowerheads, so my photo opportunities were few and some of the images I did get were a bit blurry. I’m not sure if its a Leucozona glaucia or similar looking Leucozona laternaria. My book tells me the former are ‘abundant’ in this part of the country and the latter more so here than further east.

If you are interested in finding out more about Eyebright, I have posted more info and pictures of it in my new blog which will be dedicated mostly to wild flora in their habitats, called, funnily enough ‘where the wildflowers are’.

Bramble flowers are an important source of nectar and pollen for many species of insects and today, a large tangled patch of blackberry brambles in a sunny spot on the sheltered Woodland Trail was alive with an array of bumblebees and hoverflies.

23/6/16-Pellucid fly-Volucella pellucens on bramble flower

Hoverflies

Since living here I have begun to recognise the most obvious and more commonly-occurring species of hoverflies, and they don’t come much bigger or more obvious than the handsome Pellucid Fly (Volucella pellucens), aka the Great Pied Hoverfly. This is one of the largest most obvious and recognisable of our British hoverflies.

Myathropa florea

Yellow-and-black stripes are the well-used livery of many hoverfly species and sorting out the different species accurately, especially the small ones, requires more skill and knowledge than I have at the moment, or at least some crystal clear images of certain parts of them.

Bigger yellow and black species are a little easier, especially if they have good clear markings, such as sported by this new-to-me, or at least newly identified Myathropa florea (no common name). I was aided and amused in this ID by a tip from the author of my Hoverfly bible¹, who suggests that the lower marking on the thoracic dorsum (part behind the head) resembles the Batman logo. Well, in a nice fresh clearly marked individual it does!

Syrphus sp hoverfly in a Dog Rose

One of the only small hoverflies that is unique and distinctive in its markings and has earned a common name is the Marmalade Fly Episyrphus Baltaetus. This one was hovering at just about my head height, darting hither and thither in a patch of sunlight in defence of his territory. The image of him in the photograph is still bigger than he was.

Bumblebees

There were bumblebees aplenty, mostly Red-tailed, White tailed and Common Carders, but also Tree Bumblebees and a few little Early Bumblebee workers.

Tree bumblebee-Bombus hypnorum

The number of Tree Bumblebees here has increased greatly over the last few years. I used to see them mainly in early Spring in the Quarry field on Green Alkanet flowers, and maybe the odd one or two further afield. Now they are present in all parts of the site and can be spotted on an array of flowers through to the end of the summer.

Early Bumblebee- Bombus pratorum (worker)

Butterflies

Meadow Brown-Maniola jurtina

Speckled Wood-Pararge aegeria

Large Skipper-Ochlodes venatus (male)

Bryn Euryn-Large Skipper (female)

Not bramble related, but a special treat was a very brief encounter with a Grayling. On the track up to the summit it literally landed in front of me, sat on a small rock for a few seconds then took off into the breeze.

Grayling-Hipparchia semele

The same strong breeze that carried away the Grayling was keeping the Small Heaths tucked down in the grass, but I finally managed to get an almost-clear view of one feeding on Wild Thyme.

Small Heath-Coenonympha pamphilus

Walking back down through the woods on the way home, a Red Admiral startled me when it flew up from a bramble at the side of the track. It settled back down when I stopped, then flew out again – the feisty thing was deliberately warning me to get out of his space! He sat brazenly on a leaf at about my eye level and reared up defiantly as I approached with the camera, not giving an inch and I’m sure trying to stare me down! Loved his attitude.

I had thought about venturing a bit further afield today, maybe over to Anglesey, but weekends are never good for travelling any distances in this popular holiday location, and the North Wales Expressway (the A55) is the route to and from the ferry port of Holyhead too, so unless you leave early you can end up spending an uncomfortably long time in your car. So I decided on Bryn Euryn instead, where I was hoping to get a glimpse of a particularly lovely butterfly.

There were people picnicking in the field, so I headed straight for the top of the hill today, half expecting to find more people up there too, but there was no one at all. Most people head for the beach when its this hot. The view from here is always amazing as I’ve said so many times before and today’s gives an overview of the progress of summer. So, queen of the castle for a short while, I surveyed the land below and around me. There was a bit of a haze over the horizon, hay has been cut, dried out and rolled into big shredded-wheats ( for those who are wondering, that’s a British breakfast cereal), grass meadows are turning brown in the dry heat, wheat is ripening and trees and hedges add shape and texture to the landscape in a myriad shades of green. You also get a good view of the express-way from up here: I was so glad I wasn’t on it, it was very busy.

Summer view from the top of Bryn Euryn (click to enlarge)

A patchwork of treetops viewed from above (click to enlarge)

There are not many wildflowers that can survive the dry rocky summer conditions on this edge of the hill, where the rockroses bloomed so prolifically a few weeks ago, but one that can is the strangely attractive Carline Thistle, which looks as though it’s going to seed, but in fact its flowers are brown. This species of thistle is found in several locations locally, but is a biennial and a bit unpredictable in its appearances.

Carline Thistle-Carlina vulgaris

There were Small Tortoishell butterflies flitting about up here, basking briefly on rocks before disappearing over the cliff edge. Looking down I could see a number of them, maybe a dozen or so, very restless and taunting and chasing each other; at one point a group of seven of them flew up in a flurry, whirling around like mad things.

Scabious is beginning to put forward much-needed flowers; their nectar and pollen is always gratefully received by butterflies and bees.

First flowers of scabious with a bumblebee

As I was peering over the edge of the cliff to watch the butterflies, I sudddenly realised someone was looking up at me; a fox, panting in the heat couldn’t decide if I was a threat or not so dived back into its den just to be sure.

Little fox looking up at me

Fox disappearing into its earth

I couldn’t decide if it was a young animal or an adult, but either way it was not looking good. Apart from dealing with the heat it looked thin and its rear end and tail were devoid of fur, poor thing. Does it have some horrible condition like mange?

the fox’s back and normally bushy tail were bare of fur

I moved on a little further back from the edge to where the grass is long and some ‘scrubby’ wild plants have been left to grow, perfect habitat for insects.

And lo and behold, the first butterfly to catch my eye was the one I had been hoping to see, a gorgeous Dark Green Fritillary, drawn by nothing more exotic than red valerian flowers.

Perfect Dark Green Fritillary nectaring on valerian

There were two of the beautiful insects flying around; these are fast, powerful fliers that can cover a large area in a short time. They don’t tend to leave their breeding areas, so once you know where to find them, providing conditions are good, you will more than likely see them there again. I didn’t see any last year, so was delighted to see some today and it was a bonus that they were ‘new’ and perfect.

A glimpse of an underside

The butterflies were very mobile, and with no need to bask, not staying anywhere for long. I had no time for considered portraits, these were very much opportunities grabbed, but I was more than happy just to watch them.

Wood Sage- Teucrium scorodonia. Aromatic and attractive to bumblebees

Hogweed is continuing to show me new visitors to its flowers:

A glamorous beetle with a clumsy common name of ‘Swollen-thighed Beetle’ – Oedemera nobilis

A ‘new’ hoverfly for my collection, which I hope I have identified correctly

Hoverfly-Myathropa florea (I think)

and two little sulphur beetles, Britain’s only yellow beetle and another new one for me.

Sulphur beetle-Cteniopus sulphureus

There were a lot of Meadow Brown butterflies in this area, and also Small Heath’s flitting along the pathways and low amongst the grass stems.

Small Heath

Lovely blue harebells

Harebells grow in long grass as well as on short turf

Meadow Brown basking on a path through the grass

I headed towards the proper summit of the hill and as luck would have it, was followed by a cute little dog and its owner, so took a diversion on a very narrow path around the rocks that I wouldn’t normally have done. My reward was another lovely butterfly; this one not so colourful but a master, or mistress of camouflage, a Grayling.